45 replies to this topic

[Robsbot]

I've been seeing a lot of posts from people in the beta forums that are making me furious. I'm going to address several things about beta tests, small studio development, and game design in general so maybe a few of you will change your attitude and quit acting like whiny three year olds.

Beta tests are for one thing: testing. Bugs and glitches are going to be part of the experience and you are being asked to report bugs and glitches as part of your entry into the beta. Your job as a beta tester is to try to break the game in any way possible. Try to cause glitches, find game breaking balance issues, stress mechanics. You are being ALLOWED to view an in development version of the game to help the developers test multiple hardware configurations and player types so that their launch will be as flawless as possible. The developers do not owe you a thing at this stage. You are being given this chance, not owed it.

Beta tests also include balance and mechanic testing. If the developers change drastically how a class plays it's your job as a beta tester to extensively test the new changes then post in a reasonable and intelligent way the strengths and weaknesses of the changes. Whining that you don't like the change because it sucks isn't doing anyone a favor at all. Developers need this time to test mechanics and balance that would be too drastic for a post-release patch. Don't flip out, just try it and post your experience in a coherent way.

Server stress tests are also part of a Beta test. Servers may not be as snappy coming up as you would like it. It may take an hour or two for them to get their servers up and running. Servers may go down. You have no right to be mad at them for this. Again, this is a privilege, not something they owe you. You have no right to come onto the server demanding to know why they aren't up. Servers take time to optimize and these initial tests are there to help make sure, again, that the launch is as smooth as possible. They want you to experience their game they've poured their heart and soul into as much as you want to play it but in the world of technology not everything always goes as planned.

Lastly, THIS IS NOT A HUGE PUBLISHER FUNDED GAME. Please understand this. This game is made by a small studio with limited funds. This game doesn't have hundreds of people working on it. Changes, adjustments, issues, etc. all take time to resolve and with less people working on the game it may take much longer to resolve issues. There are only 24 people working on this game. http://www.adhesivegames.com/team.html Give these people the respect they deserve. They had a vision for this game and have spent thousands of hours to develop this game. Each of them put a part of their vision and art into this. I'm sure each of them are underpaid and over worked trying to get this game to release on deadline.

Why_ Why would someone go through financial and personal hardship just to make a game_ Indy studios, while lacking in funding from a big name publisher often have much more leeway to cater to what the community wants and make niche games. They don't have stockholders to report to. They can make something creative and new and keep true to their vision for the trade-off of limited start up funds. They are making something creative that they would enjoy as a gamer and that they think others would enjoy playing. This game is all about a vision someone had that they thought YOU would like to play. Give them the benefit of the doubt and respect them as professionals, artists, and people, and for the love of mankind QUIT ACTING LIKE WHINY THREE YEAR OLDS.

Adhesive Games, thank you for your hard work on this game. I've been looking for a Mech type game reboot and MWO is too imbalanced and Pay-to-win for my liking. You have a great product that I will enjoy playing. Thank you.

[Sagetastic]

I'm sorry, but seriously TL;DR.

[Diamondeye96]

Good saying, Totally agreed.
Thanks for making it clear Robsbot. Now i hope they do follow/apply it.

[Robsbot]

Sagetastic, on October 26 2012 - 11:57 AM, said:

I'm sorry, but seriously TL;DR.

You're exactly the fuzzy bunny this was meant for. Try enlightening yourself and try reading for once in your life.

[Saint_The_Judge]

Nice first post, pal.

[Bioblaze]

Yea i noticed alot of whiners, and soforth. Good post, well worth the read. Hope the other people do it. lul.

[Consti2tion]

I'd like to point out that EVERY Game since they started doing Public Beta tests has had these kinds of posts. There will always be people thinking they are Entitled to something when it comes to Public Beta tests.

[Sagetastic]

Robsbot, on October 26 2012 - 12:00 PM, said:

Sagetastic, on October 26 2012 - 11:57 AM, said:

I'm sorry, but seriously TL;DR.

You're exactly the fuzzy bunny this was meant for. Try enlightening yourself and try reading for once in your life.

Assuming I don't read because I am anxious to play a closed beta, and find reading a big post right now to be the most tedious thing imaginable is exactly what I was shooting for.

[Robsbot]

Consti2tion, on October 26 2012 - 12:02 PM, said:

I'd like to point out that EVERY Game since they started doing Public Beta tests has had these kinds of posts. There will always be people thinking they are Entitled to something when it comes to Public Beta tests.

Absolutely and that's part of the reason for this post. I'm a starting indie dev as well as beta testing several games recently and always see posts like this. This is a game I'm really excited about so I guess you could say it was a straw that broke the camel's back type deal.

[MudGunner]

I agree, I think the age of instant everything has spoiled us all, am I mildly disappointed yes but I have other things to do and other games to play. If it takes four more hours or for more days to get the kinks out so I can play continuosly with the obvious bugs out, sounds like the best way to go.

Devs are upfront about the issues and they aren't trying to hide anything from us so I think those who wanna rant shoud cut them slack.

My two cents.

Time for some instant soup, I am hungry!

[Sagetastic]

I glanced through your post.  I am not your target audience.

[Blu_Sinn]

Sagetastic, on October 26 2012 - 12:10 PM, said:

I glanced through your post.  I am not your target audience.

takes 2 mins to read, has to glance.

[Faile]

glanced at post, realized it's one of "those posts".. seriously, just ignore the 3 year olds, have a beer, test some more

[Skylead]

@Robsbot great post, more people need to understand what the TESTING part of Beta Testing is for.

[Robsbot]

Faile, on October 26 2012 - 12:26 PM, said:

glanced at post, realized it's one of "those posts".. seriously, just ignore the 3 year olds, have a beer, test some more

Just trying to give people who may not understand both sides of the coin the prospective view from the other side. I don't see why that's a bad thing.

[MajorAjer]

You really should go look up entitlement or at least work it into your post. You seem like an angry 19 year old.

[DrHawk]

We could just all chill and get along, in a perfect world of course. Same thing happened and is still happening with MechWarrior Online and countless other games. Things take time. People complain. Others defend. In the end none of it matters as only time and effort and patience solves problems. We are testers, so lets roll up the sleeves and help em out. Whine later when something REALLY bad happens.

[Robsbot]

MajorAjer, on October 26 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

You really should go look up entitlement or at least work it into your post. You seem like an angry 19 year old.

In a casual sense, the term "entitlement" refers to a notion or belief that one (or oneself) is deserving of some particular reward or benefit[1]—if given without deeper legal or principled cause, the term is often given with pejorative connotation (e.g. a "sense of entitlement").

DrHawk, on October 26 2012 - 12:52 PM, said:

We could just all chill and get along, in a perfect world of course. Same thing happened and is still happening with MechWarrior Online and countless other games. Things take time. People complain. Others defend. In the end none of it matters as only time and effort and patience solves problems. We are testers, so lets roll up the sleeves and help em out. Whine later when something REALLY bad happens.

Amen brother. That was the meat of my post. Get your hands dirty and do some hardcore beta testing and game breaking. The rest... well that was a good sized personal rant.

Edited by Robsbot, October 26 2012 - 12:54 PM.

[Beemann]

Wait... did you just call people entitled for complaining about balance in Beta and then complain about MWO's balance_

[Xionel]

The best way to handle this situation is to not care.  You're not here to give therapy sessions to internet people, you're here to play a video game and that's all that matters.  If internet attitude is a problem for you then you're not here for the intended purpose.